Maryland House & Garden Pilgrimage: St. Mary's County Tour @ Historic St. Mary’s City

The Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a history dedicated to the preservation of Maryland’s cultural and historically significant properties and landscapes. It started as a committee of the Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland with a tour in 1930. Later it became a separate organization with the organization formally incorporating in 1937. Each year the “Pilgrims” have traversed throughout the state to partake in the highest quality immersive tours of selected noteworthy properties.

Not only do these tours provide an exclusive peek into these significant places of our shared history, but they provide the Pilgrim with opportunities to connect to these hallowed places and to walk where history occurred.

Take a tour through St. Mary’s County, where it lies on the peninsula bounded by the famous “Oyster Waters”, the Patuxent and Potomac Rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. In similar fashion this year’s tour features waterfront locations, houses and gardens on both sides of thesouthernmost tip of the peninsula. George Calvert, First Lord Baltimore, petitioned King Charles I in the early 1600’s for a land grant to establish a new colony where all religions could be practiced freely. George Calvert died before carrying out his settlement plans, and his son, Cecilius (Cecil) Calvert, Second Lord Baltimore inherited his estate. In November 1633, Cecil sent his brother Leonard Calvert, along with 140 settlers and adventurers aboard the Ark and the Dove bound for Maryland. The two ships landed at St. Clement’s Island on March 25, 1634, marking the birth of the Maryland colony. Following exploration of the region the settlers relocated further south on what is known today as the St. Mary’s River where they purchased from the Yaocomico Indians 30 miles of land, renaming it “St. Maries”. The Native Americans aided the colonist during the establishment of this new settlement. St. Mary’s City became Maryland’s first capital and Leonard Calvert its first Governor.